Simple Pleasures
by Faikitty
Summary: Gilbert, Oz, and Alice bake cookies together. It goes as well as one might expect.


Typically, baking cookies is a fun and relaxing experience for all those involved. The scent of warm chocolate, the familial laughs, the occasional cloud of flour landing on someone's face (entirely on accident, of course)… They're all things that make baking so much fun.

For Gilbert, Oz, and Alice, it doesn't go quite like that.

To begin with, Gilbert is the only one who actually has any experience baking. Oz is heir to the Vessalius household, and Alice doesn't have the biggest appetite for cookies, much preferring meat over sweets. She won't complain if she's given treats though, much to Gilbert's frustration.

The Nightray would really rather not be baking. He has a fair amount of work to do, and none of it involves spending an hour in a hot kitchen with two brats running under his feet. But he doesn't see any way to get out of it, not when Oz knocks on his door with a malicious smile and Alice leaning around his shoulder with something white and furry in her hands. "Alice has never tried chocolate chip cookies!" is Oz's reason for asking, and Gilbert tells himself that he just doesn't have the heart to say no. It definitely has nothing to do with the cat in Alice's arms.

"How much longer? It's hot in here," Oz complains after Gilbert has been at it for approximately fifteen minutes. He sits on top of a box nearby, watching with a bored expression, while Alice dozes against his shoulder.

"Considering I've only just mixed the ingredients together, it will be awhile," Gilbert replies, not bothering to look up. Spoon in his hand, he begins making small balls of cookie dough and pressing them onto the sheet. He hears Oz groan, and then a few seconds later, he hears Alice's foot hit the side of the box as she wakes up. A quiet hiss of whispers follows, and Gilbert glances up to see Oz looking off to the side with an innocent expression as Alice stares at the cookie dough. Gilbert slides the bowl slightly closer to him. He finishes the sheet without any trouble, though he has to keep looking up from time to time to watch the children.

As he takes a few steps and opens the oven, a scuffle of quick footsteps sounds behind him, and he whirls around to see…

Nothing.

Oz and Alice remain on their box, quiet as before. _Must be hearing things_. Gilbert grabs some oven mitts and the cookie sheet and slides it in, once again hearing footsteps but not turning around this time for fear of burning himself.

When he finally closes the oven and turns, the bowl of cookie dough is still clattering slightly, and he looks over at Oz and Alice suspiciously. Alice is licking her lips, but they remain the same position as before. _Oz won't let me scold him for that. He'll just deny it._

"How long will that take? I'm excited to eat Gil's cookies," Oz comments with a smile that is just too angelic to be innocent.

"…10 minutes. Just stay there and wait. I have another couple of batches to cook too. And if you try to eat them while they're still hot, you'll burn your mouth," Gilbert warns, and Oz sighs audibly.

Alice jumps down suddenly. "Can I help?" she asks, and Gilbert blinks.

"I suppose so. But don't eat the dough. It'll make you sick. And let me put them in the oven so you don't get burned."

Oz jumps down too and snatches the spoon from his hand. "You worry too much!" he informs the older man. "Don't eat the dough, the cookies are hot, the oven will burn you, blah blah blah. We can handle this."

Gilbert eyes him skeptically. "I'll leave you alone then," he tells them. He steps back, leans against the box the others were previously on, and lights a cigarette. "Hopefully you don't burn down the kitchen."

Oz turns and sticks out his tongue, and Alice copies the gesture. Gilbert snorts and turns to gaze out the window, deciding to leave them to their own devices.

Oz seems to do alright for awhile. And, to his credit, he doesn't let Alice snack on _too_ much raw cookie dough. Gilbert does his best not to interfere, excepting two times, both involving the oven (as if he would let Oz get burnt). For the most part, he casually watches them with a cigarette between his lips.

He nearly chokes on it when Oz's batch of cookies is taken out of the oven.

Gilbert learned two things that day. One, Alice will eat nearly anything, even if that "anything" is an entire plate full of congealed cookies. And two, Oz should never be allowed to cook.


End file.
